Michelle Brewer

First and foremost, please tell us a little bit about yourself.  I’m never good at this question!  I’m married to my high school sweetheart and we have an adorable toddler who’s starting his terrible twos a little early.  We live in the Michigan suburb I grew up in, with our appropriately named cat Bonkers.  I graduated from Wayne State University with a BA in English.  And…I have a terrible sweet tooth, a bad case of road rage, and my favorite color is green.

 You tend to write various types of genres.  What's your favorite to write and why?  What are you most comfortable to write and why?  I would have to say that my favorite to write is YA/fantasy.  I like being able to create worlds and push the limits of reality.  There’s something really fascinating about blending real world characters with fantasy elements, and bending and twisting things to make a whole new reality out of it.  But it can also be a risk—because, as a writer, you have to make sure that reality is convincing.  Which is probably the reason I’m most comfortable writing contemporary romance—it’s a little easier writing within the confines of an established reality.  It also helps that I’ve been a romantic since I was a little girl, putting on pretend weddings in my backyard.  

 Are you a plotter or a pantser?  I’m definitely a plotter.  I usually make a general outline of the bigger moments I see in my head and sort of pants around to fill in the in-between.  Sometimes I’ll end up skipping things because, as I’ve gotten to know the characters, it doesn’t seem to flow with the story.  Other times, I’ve had to do rewrites because a character I intended to be minor kind of grows into something much more.  But I have to write everything—every little idea—down, because I’m always jumping between projects, and with the toddler running around, it’s entirely too easy for me to get distracted.

 What is your writing routine?  My routine is less routine and more opportunity.  I have a day job that takes up a few days a week, in addition to a toddler who’s as much of a night owl as his parents are.  I usually don’t get an opportunity to sit down and write actual words until midnight—which means I sacrifice an awful lot of sleep a few nights a week.  

 Where do you find your inspiration?  Everywhere.  It’s cliché, but it’s true.  Sometimes, I’ll be sitting in a restaurant, and I’ll see a couple or a family across from me, and I start to imagine their story.  Other times, I’m in the car and a song comes on the radio and I pay attention to the narrative and build on to it.  I draw from everything around me—all of my experiences, those of my friends and family, and those of the people I’ve never met.

 What is it about past loves that keep us hanging on to them, as Abby does with Logan?  Personally, I feel it’s the question of what could have been.  Especially when you take into consideration that Logan was Abby’s first real love—that kind of love is always in your heart.  You’re always going to look back—especially if you haven’t found someone new to occupy that space.  If you’re not happy with your present, it makes sense to me to look backward to a moment when you were happy and wonder if that possibility would still make you happy today.

 A pretend relationship is a popular plotline.  How do you take that and keep it unique and exciting?  For me, it’s always about the characters.  So many stories have been told so many times—but it’s the characters that pull me in.  Write characters who are interesting and captivating, and the entire dynamic of the story changes.  

 What tempts us to cross the line, like Anna does with Drew in SINGLE, AVAILABLE, AND COMPLETELY ATTACHED?  Specifically regarding Anna and Drew—I think that the pull was always there between them.  That edge of curiosity combined with their obvious physical attraction led them down that path—which, probably, is how most people fall into that temptation.  Curiosity can be a wonderfully dangerous thing.

 Do you plan on writing a series, or do you prefer stand-alones?  I’m actually in the middle of editing a series right now.  As far as romance novels go, I’m likely to stick to stand-alones.  But I have a number of ideas for a few YA series that I’m just itching to get to—from vampires to magic to aliens to a present day YA drama (and maybe couple of ideas where a few of those overlap).  

 What type of relationship is your favorite to explore and develop?  I’m a sucker for the second-chance romance.  I love exploring a relationship that has a history.  There’s something fascinating to me about putting myself in the middle of a relationship, whether romantic or not, and dealing with the residual effects of that past—and the impact it has on the characters I’m writing about in their present.  

 What type of person is your ideal heroine when you're both reading and writing?  What type of person is your ideal hero when you're both reading and writing?  Are they the same?  Why or why not?  This is a tough one.  Generally speaking, I write what I want to read.  That’s why I started writing in the first place—because I didn’t like how an author ended a story, or I didn’t like how a relationship worked out on TV.  So I, for my own benefit, would create my own version.  That being said, my ideal heroine to both read and write about is someone who is strong—a fighter.  Someone who doesn’t give up, but sacrifices when she feels it’s best for those around her.  My ideal hero is much the same.  I want someone who can take care of the heroine, even when she doesn’t want it (and vice-versa).  He’s generally conflicted, with a certain sort of bad-boy charm.  

 What has the publishing process been like?  It’s actually gone a lot better than I’d expected.  I decided to try self-publishing for a couple of reasons:  First, I didn’t have the time or energy to put into searching for an agent or publisher.  Second, I haven’t developed a very thick skin when it comes to rejection—so I thought I would save myself the pain of going through that process.  I was so surprised when I published Playing at Forever and real people bought it.  Not just my friends or my family (though they were incredibly supportive)—real people paid money to read what I wrote!  It was such a weird feeling.  Getting those first few good reviews, and then the less-than-thrilling reviews…it’s all been so much fun.  I still get a rush whenever I find out there’s a new review—and I really read them all, and I take what the readers have to say very seriously.  Like I said before, I started out writing mostly what I wanted to read—so to have input from others has been incredibly insightful.

 Would you recommend advertisements or did you market your books through a different venue?  I haven’t actually done a lot of advertising.  I’ve used Facebook, and on occasion, Twitter, but that’s really about it.  I am curious to see if it would impact sales at all.

 How involved are you in terms of editing/book cover/release date/marketing process?  I’m a self-publisher, so I have the final say.  I rely on my husband to design the covers for me (and I’m incredibly fortunate that he’s somewhat of a mind-reader when it comes to that, because after I find a stock photo I like, I pretty much hand it over to him and say, “I want it happy.”  or “I want it kind of sad.”…needless to say, he’s a trooper).  My best friend is in charge of the editing.  She tells me when things don’t make sense and points out all of my typos.  With each book, I feel like we’re improving.  Working around all three of our schedules is pretty much my only limitation.

 Are you working on anything now?  I’m working on a few things right now.  I’m waiting for notes on my first YA/fantasy publication—and while waiting, I’ve started working on a new romance.  I honestly have no idea how many ideas/started manuscripts I have to pull from, though.  Sometimes, I feel like I just want to try my hand at everything—historical romance, sci-fi, fantasy, YA, NA, suspense…I’ve got ideas for just about everything.

Any upcoming releases?  My next release is going to be the first in a series I’m currently calling The Darkest Trilogy.  It’s a YA vampire story that actually started out as a short story I wrote in my Freshman year of high school, almost fifteen years ago, that slowly evolved into three novels.  I’m hoping to have The Darkest Dream available within the next month or so.

My blog: http://michellelbrewer.blogspot.com

Twitter: @michellelbrewer

Author Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/michellebrewer.authorpage